


Soulmates and other crap

by TravisStoll



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Platonic Soulmates, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:14:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29374425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TravisStoll/pseuds/TravisStoll
Summary: Normally, everyone started with one tattoo. A very specific symbol on ones chest, which represented oneself. In the course of a lifetime, however, one could collect even more symbols, small versions of other people's symbols - platonic soulmates. And on the eighteenth birthday the symbol of your one true love appears... or something like that.//Soulmate AU with Tratie, as always
Relationships: Katie Gardner/Travis Stoll
Kudos: 15





	Soulmates and other crap

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Seelenbande und anderer Mist](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/759729) by Caduceus. 



Since Travis could think he had two tattoos. That was twice as much as most people had from such a young age.

Normally, everyone started with one tattoo. A very specific symbol on their chest, which represented oneself. In the course of a lifetime, however, one could collect even more symbols, small versions of other people's symbols to be precise. These symbols began on the right shoulder and lined the arm down – symbols of Platonic soulmates. They appeared as soon as you met them for the first time. Accordingly, Travis's second tattoo must have surfaced when he was about one year old. Shortly after Connor's birth. The third symbol appeared years later at Camp Halfblood, when Lou Ellen crossed the camp border for the first time and was almost run over by the Hermes son who ran away from Clarisse at the time. Connor had received his third symbol years earlier with Annabeth.

By now, on Travis' right arm, the symbols of Connor, Lou, Michael Yaw and - since they established contact with the Roman camp - Reyna were lined from top to bottom. Michael's symbol had faded since his death, and many of the campers envied Reynas.

If you got a new symbol on your arm, you sometimes even walked around in a shirt in the deepest winter, hoping there was someone who recognized themselves or maybe one of their friends.

But the symbol, which was most important to everyone, was not shown around. It appeared on one person's 18th birthday; whether you had met the other person years earlier or had never got to see them. The symbol of this person appeared on the right above their own, directly above the heart, and symbolized a romantic soulmate. Aka the love of your life.

Some people got multiple symbols; this could mean a lot – the early death of the first soulmate, a poly relationship, the choice between two perfect partners, etc.

Some people didn't get symbols, all aromantic people. But the vast majority received only one symbol. And Travis Stoll? He would turn 18 tomorrow and was therefore almost more hyper than usual. He knew he wasn't aro, so he was just a bit scared. What if he woke up tomorrow morning and the symbol had already faded like Michael's? No... He didn't even want to think about that.

His siblings were almost as excited for him as he was, and excitement always caused chaos in Cabin 11. It wasn't until late at night that Travis made it to bed. Officially, he was already 18, but for his tattoo he needed at least 3 hours of sleep. He even got to get 5 hours until he was woken up by the fact that a few people tried to remove his shirt at about 8am.

"Hey!" he cried, suddenly completely awake. His younger siblings were startled and ran out of the room like a horde of headless chickens followed by Connor's laughter.

When they were gone, Travis sat up, pulled his shirt forward and looked down. "Holy fuck, yes, it's not faded! Damn, I was so scared," he said. From Connor's side of the room came a quiet "Whoop, whoop.", then he asked: "So? Do you know the person?"

“I don't know for sure; the symbol is weird upside down. I need a mirror."

Full of vigour, the Hermes son jumped up and sprinted out of the cabin into the shower rooms. And a few minutes later, everyone near the shower rooms was terrified when Travis cursed: "Is this some kind of joke?! What the fuck, Tyche?!"

He put his shirt on again. He knew the symbol. He knew it very well even. It was the second one on Annabeth's arm and the first on Mirandas and Wills. And he had already seen the original - albeit unintentionally - when he had entered the Demeter cabin for a prank and was faced with a half-naked Katie. Who, after screaming bloody murder, had promptly chased him out of the cabin with the help of a wet towel. His nemesis? Seriously? No... He didn't just believe that. Who cares about romantic soulmates anyway? Fuck that. He certainly wasn't meant for Katie Gardner, that had to be a mistake.

Mistakes happened; it wasn’t that uncommon. Okay, maybe it was. But it happened!

Almost furiously, he ran back to the Hermes cabin. "Are you alright?" asked Connor: "You don’t seem exactly... happy."

"Yes, all good." "You sure? Do you know who it is?"

"Yes and yes."

"So? Who is it?"

"Nobody."

"What?"

"Nobody. It's nobody, Connor.”

"You... don't want to tell me?"

"No, I don't want to."

From the background, gasping could be heard. It was clear that all their siblings had listened in. There had to be a lot of things to happen that Travis didn't want to talk to Connor about something, so the shock was justified. Travis celebrated his birthday like every other year before and just avoided talking about his tattoo. Every conversation about it, he nibbed in the bud. After a few days, hardly anyone went to the trouble to ask him about the symbol anymore. He lived his life as if this... this "mistake" never appeared, even if his siblings remained skeptical of his reaction on the topic.

Connor's eighteenth the following year was easier. He had woken up, stared at his chest, then stared at Travis' arm and then happily said, "It's Lou." "Ha! A few people owe me a lot of money now!"

Connor grinned, then sprinted out of the cabin. Travis would bet his right kidney that he was on his way to the Hekate cabin. The only bad thing that Connor's birthday brought was that Katie's eighteenth was also right around the corner. And Travis knew that if it wasn't a huge mistake, she would certainly confront him.

On her birthday, however, she seemed quite normal, a little more excited and cheerful perhaps, which is why the Hermes son almost concluded that his tattoo was actually a mistake. But then he had accidentally and in complete innocence heard a conversation between Miranda and Annabeth. "Does Katie know the symbol? She seems so excited about it!" "Yes, really! She says it seems familiar to her, but can't determine it exactly? We both came to the conclusion that it must be someone from the camp." "I hope she finds him/her soon, that would be so sweet, another camp couple." "To distract from Percy and you?" Annabeth had laughed, but Travis had become white as a sheet in his hiding place. So he wasn't out of the woods.

And about three days later, he knew there had been no mistake. He watched Katie stare at Connor with her mouth open. He was so busy with Lou that he didn't even notice, but Travis saw it. He also saw what exactly she was staring at, because Connor was wearing something sleeveless today. Katie's facial expression became angry and the older Stoll decided to disappear as quickly as he could.

But it didn't help. At the edge of the forest towards the evening she had found him and tied him to a tree with branches. "Travis Stoll, who do you think you are?! Didn't you even think it necessary to inform me that we are soulmates?!"

"You wouldn't have believed me anyway!"

"And what if? It's not very hard to prove, after all, you could have just taken off your shirt! Damn it, you asshole, did you expect my symbol to disappear if you just ignored it long enough?"

"No..." "So, what did you expect?"

“That it might be a mistake or something. I mean, something like that happens! Besides, you didn’t go directly to me on your birthday, so well, I assumed..."

"Oh come on, as if you had recognized whose symbol it is immediately."

Travis blushed. Now that he was thinking about it, it was a little strange that he recognized it immediately. "Um, yes," he replied only. "Excuse me?" "Well come on, I've seen the original, after all!" he tried to justify himself. One of the branches hit him in the face.

"O...... okay, well deserved, but it wasn't intentional, you know!"

Katie stared at him angrily, then sighed, saying, "Gods, we're soulmates." "Destiny definitely has an even more fucked up sense of humour than my father and that says a lot.”

They looked at each other for a while until Travis' shackles broke loose and he fell to the ground. "And now?" asked Katie as the Hermes son hoisted himself up from the ground. "I'll leave it to you," he said, rubbing his back. "What?" "What we do now I leave up to you. Ignore our symbols and I won't do it any other way. If you decide we're a couple now, i'll try it too. Your decision, I won’t fry my brain with important decisions like this." "Asshole." "That’s a word I’ve been called a lot, yes.”

"Good. We're a couple now, got it?" Okay, Travis didn't expect that, but hey, he had left the decision to her, so he'd try.

"Okay... oh, so you want a kiss or something?" Travis laughed jokingly, but Katie just nodded. The laughter got stuck in his throat. "Seriously now?" Again, Katie nodded resolutely. Somewhat confused and insecure, Travis stepped forward. Then he put a hand on her cheek, took a deep breath and kissed her. Seconds earlier, he had hoped it would be over quickly. But now? Now he wanted to never stop kissing her again.

Eventually, however, they broke away from each other. Katie said quietly: "Seems like the fates are always right, that felt fantastic."

Travis nodded a little bit spaced out, while Katie apparently was back to her old self already. She reached for his hand and dragged him back to the cabins.

Katie Gardner was temperamental, a little bitter and definitely dangerous, but maybe Travis needed just that. He pondered whether fate wanted to tell him that he was a masochist and he had to admit that he didn’t have as much of a problem with that as he thought. He wondered if Katie was just as dominant in bed… He shook his head. He would find out soon enough, but now he was completely content with listening to Katie's scolding tirade about how stupid he was and unreliable and a kleptomaniac and how damningly good he was at kissing.

**Author's Note:**

> Haha! Here I go again!  
> There is so muh snow outside, that it's impossible for me to work, so I'm using my new freetime with fanfictions.  
> I mean, it's a fun thing to do. Translated quite a bit and wrote like 10k in german in 2 days lmao


End file.
